By Retta Race on SwimSwam
2024 RUSSIAN SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Thursday, November 21st – Tuesday, November 26th
- St. Petersburg, Russia
- SCM (25m)
- SwimSwam Preview
- Entries/Results
The 2024 Russian Short Course Championships kicked off today from St. Petersburg with several big guns in the water to start the six-day competition.
The men’s 100m backstroke semi-final featured Tokyo Olympic medalist Kliment Kolesnikov with the 24-year-old capturing the 3rd seed.
Tonight Kolesnikov posted a casual time of 51.04 to coast into tomorrow night’s final, although he has a pair of sub-50-second athletes ahead of him.
18-year-old World Junior Record holder Miron Lifincev fired off a time of 49.42 to land lane 4, with Pavel Samusenko right behind in 49.46. Splits for the former included 11.52/12.49/12.94/12.47 and the latter included 11.37/12.44/12.86/12.89.
Lifincev’s result this evening checks in as the 2nd best time of the teen’s career, sitting only behind his personal best of 49.37 from last year’s edition of the meet.
Samusenko has been as quick as 49.23 in his career, also from the 2023 Russian SC Championships.
World record holder Evgenia Chikunova dove in for the semi-final of the women’s 50m breast, punching a time of 30.20 to take the 3rd seed.
Ralina Giliazova was the fastest on the night, hitting 30.05 for a new personal best and the #1 seed. Galiazova’s previous personal best rested at the 30.36 turned in last December.
Olympic medalist Yuliya Efimova split the pair, earning the 2nd seed in a solid 30.18.
Another thrilling final set for tomorrow night’s session is the men’s 100m breaststroke.
Racing in the semi-finals tonight, 28-year-old Kirill Prigoda turned in a time of 56.44 to hold a narrow advantage over Belarusian Ilya Shymanovich.
Shymanovich clocked 56.55 to flank Prigoda for tomorrow while Alexander Zhigalov will be on the other side with his effort of 56.60.
Shymanovich owns the world record with the 55.28 established during the 2021 International Swimming League (ISL) season. Prigoda is the reigning Russian national record holder in this men’s 1breast event, courtesy of the 56.02 he put on the books 2017 European Short Course Championships.
Saveliy Luzin was too quick to catch in the men’s 400m final, grabbing gold in the fastest time of 3:40.51, a huge lifetime best.
Luzin held a healthy advantage over silver medalist Roman Akimov who touched in 3:42.48 followed by Egor Babinich who notched 3:43.17.
Finally, Ilya Borodin got the job done in the men’s 200m IM, firing off a solid time of 1:52.75. His outing represented a new career-best, overtaking his previous time of 1:53.09 from last year. He’s now coming within striking distance of the longstanding Russian record, a time of 1:52.13 Aleksei Sudarev logged at last December’s Vladimir Salnikov Cup.
Tonight, Sudarev settled for silver in 1:53.50 while Eduard Valiakhmetov captured bronze in 1:54.80.
Additional Notes
- The men’s 200m fly saw Alexander Kharlanov get it done for gold, hitting 1:52.43 to narrowly defeat Alexander Kudashev who settled for silver just .11 behind in 1:52.54. Egor Pavlov rounded out the podium in 1:53.97.
- Viktoria Blinova topped the women’s 400m IM event, reaping gold in a final result of 4:32.59. That represents the fastest time of her career. Irina Zvyagintseva was next to the wall in 4:33.85 followed by Daria Rogozhinova in 4:38.31.
- Milana Stepanova stopped the clock at 57.96 to win the women’s 100m back event, hitting the sole time of the field under 58 seconds. Alexandra Kuznetsova touched in 58.06 as the silver medalist and Elizaveta Agapitova put up 58.38 for bronze.
- In the women’s 200m free final, Daria Klepikova reaped gold in 1:54.47, a hair ahead of Daria Trofimova who settled for silver in 1:54.61. Ksenia Misharina bagged bronze in 1:55.90 in the race.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Lifincev, Samusenko & Kolesnikov Headed For 100 Back Showdown In St. Petersburg